100 days after Hurricane Sandy, the Jersey Shore slowly recovers

LEFT: One of the most iconic images of Hurricane Sandy, the lemon yellow home in Union Beach split in half, but remained standing. RIGHT: The same property 100 days later.

By Amy Ellis Nutt, The Star-Ledger

Published 11:30am ET -- Too cold even for the seagulls, the Jersey Shore in winter is a desolate place. Up and down the abandoned beaches a fringe of snow and ice, like the frayed hem of an old wedding dress, sketches the edge of the last high tide. Only a handful of well-bundled souls, and a black Lab with no birds to chase, roam the ocean’s edge. Shuttered and silent, the Jersey Shore in winter is supposed to be bleak, but today, paused between storm and summer, 100 days after Hurricane Sandy and 110 days until Memorial Day, the shore remains a mournful place — struggling not to be.

LEFT: The Atlantic Ocean has breached the Ocean County barrier island in three places in the borough of Mantoloking, and created a new inlet at the base of the Mantoloking Bridge. RIGHT: This is what the Mantoloking Bridge looks like 100 days later.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LEFT: Work begins to clean up Ocean Avenue between 17th and 16th Avenues in Belmar on Wednesday after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on the Jersey Shore. RIGHT: How Ocean Avenue looks today.

Andrew Mills / The Star-Ledger

LET: A destroyed sport utility vehicle at the intersection of Brielle Road and First Avenue on the Manasquan beachfront was one of the first images to be transmitted from the Jersey Shore after Sandy's storm surge subsided. RIGHT: The same intersection 100 days later.